Miyako watched with pride as Sakura trained hard. The month was almost up, and Sakura is stronger, faster, and overall better than ever before. She was more confident in herself and had seemed to almost mature in the short month since they started. Miyako couldn't wait for Sasuke and Naruto to see her cousin now. She knew they'd both be impressed.
Right now, Sakura was sparring with a genin who graduated the previous year. They were exchanging blows, using Taijutsu only. Sakura and the genin had been training together since the beginning, and today was the first day that Miyako could picture Sakura coming out on top of the spar. And sure enough, with a kick to the knee joint, Sakura managed to pin her training partner down to the ground, a kunai to the genins neck.
Miyako grinned and started to clap slowly at the show the two genins had put on. Sakura looked up in shock, sweat dripping down her porcelain skin as she realised what she had done. Sakura grinned, shooting off her partner and running over to Miyako.
"I did it, Miyako-sensei! I beat her!"
"I knew you would, one day. Tomorrow is the final exam, after that you can show the boys how much you've improved," Miyako stated with a grin and Sakura smirked, standing up straighter and pushing some of her short hair behind her ear.
"Will you be attending, Sakura-san?" the other genin questioned as she stood up. Her pride was hurt a little bit, but she was proud of the girl that beat her all the same.
"Yep. What about you, Mi-chan?" Sakura answered, looking toward her cousin.
"Yes, I will be attending. Lord Hokage has set me up as security for the arena. I will be standing somewhere watching for suspicious activity," Miyako explained. "Now then, that's enough training for today. How about you two go and rest before tomorrow?"
"Sounds good. Do you want to get some dango with me, Sakura-san?" the genin asked Sakura.
"No thanks. I'm going to show off my new skills to Ino. See you around," Sakura replied before running off, the genin following her at a slow pace.
Miyako sighed before making her way out of the training field. She was tired, never allowing her Hidden Jutsu to turn off for even a m minute after the threat of Orochimaru became prevalent within the village. And whilst she wanted nothing more than to rest, she had to take up guard duty near and around the Uchiha Compound.
She made he way to the edge of Konoha, shivering at the sight of the abandoned compound which had once held the great – but still powerful – Uchiha Clan. She avoided this place as often as she can. But sometimes she was placed on guard duty. This area was dilapidated that it was easy for missing-nins to sneak in and out of the village. Even knowing this weakness, there was only ever one guard covering the area instead of the standard two to four.
Miyako stopped in front of the gateway leading into the compound before taking a deep breath and walking in. Her job right now was to search every house to make sure no one who wasn't supposed be there was there. It would take her the better part of two hours to thoroughly check the houses, and she was on the shift for four hours total.
Miyako moved in and out of the houses, going into abandoned kitchens that still had rotten food waiting at tablets, living rooms with dusty couches and old-fashioned TV sets, bathrooms – some of which held blood in the bath or shower where a member had been killed, and bedrooms where beds that were set up for the night were waiting for their owners to return. All the houses still held their furniture, knickknacks, and other personal possessions, though now most of it was covered in dust and moth bitten, and most of the rooms had a least one remaining bloodstain.
Miyako soon reached the house she dreading the most. The home of her best friend and teammate Hisoka. She walked in slowly, heaviness filling the air as she looked around the entranceway. She walked into the kitchen, where a bloodstain sat next to the stove – right where Uchiha Shizuka, the mother of Hisoka, had been when Itachi swooped in and ended hr life.
Miyako flinched at the thought before making her way into the living room where another bloodstain was situated on the couch where Uchiha Michio – the father of Hisoka – had been when his life came to an end. Miyako made her way upstairs to the bedrooms, checking them for signs of life. The last room she checked was Hisoka's old room. She opened the door and froze, pulling a kunai out as she saw the broad-shouldered figure of Ookami.
"What are you doing here?" Miyako questioned, studying the grey clad, wolf masked male in front of her.
"Checking things out," Ookami replied simply, picking up the team photo of Team Four. "You and your teammates seem happy in this picture."
"Whata do you want?"
"Hmm? Can't I come and see how you are doing?"
"Not when you're a threat to the village."
"A threat...? I guess I am. Though I suspect that Orochimaru is more of a threat at this moment, is he not?"
"Are you working for him?"
"I'm working for another," Ookami replied, his head turning to look around the room at the faded paint on the walls and dust covered everything. "For a mind reader, you're easy to sneak up on. I've been following you for a few days now."
Miyako froze in shock. She'd been followed for a few days? How had she not noticed? That was when Miyako realized she couldn't get a single thought out of the males' head. It was like his mind was either shielded... or empty.
"You know who I am. You know my skills. That suggest to me that you have contact with someone who figured them out. They only one I can think of who would share my skills with the world is Uchiha Itachi. So tell me, are you working for him?"
The male snorted. "Work for Itachi? No. He works alone. Accepting missions that turn him into a criminal. Make the love of his life hate him? I work for another, much deadlier person. Though if you ever met him, you wouldn't he was all that scary."
Miyako frowned, putting that information away as she focused on something that – at this moment – seemed more important. "What do you mean by Itachi accepting missions that turn him into to a criminal?"
The male before her chuckled darkly. "How much do you really know about the Uchiha Massacre? Do you honestly think Itachi would've been able to wipe out his whole clan, all by himself? Surely you would've caught a glimpse into his mind before you ran off from him."
Miyako let out a breath, knowing what the male in front of her was implying. She remembered it clearly, the though rushing through Itachi's head. 'I'm doing this for Konoha. I'm doing this for Sasuke.' She had always wondered what that thought had meant, but never thought to pursue it. If Ookami was telling the truth, there was more to the massacre than a Uchiha going rogue, and perhaps, even an accomplice.
"I see I've piqued you interest. Maybe you should ask the Hokage what he knows about that night one of these days. After all, he can't lie to you. No one can," Ookami stated and then vanished in cloud of smoke.
...
Miyako stood on the roof of the arena where the last of the Chūnin Exams was being held. She was posted here along with sixteen other (which included both Takeo and Tsuneo). They were the security, along with some hidden ANBU for the event. Miyako was located right on top of the kage seats. Takeo was fifty metres to the right, and Tsuneo was fifty metres to her left. Every fifty metres was another Jōnin.
Down in the arena itself, the participating genins stood, with only two missing. Miyako frowned as she looked for both Sasuke and Naruto, but grinned when she watched Naruto run in, being chased by a herd of bulls.
After Naruto's arrival, the proctor of the exam went over the rules. From her place on the roof, Miyako couldn't properly hear what was being said, but she got bit and pieces that were brough up from the speakers in the arena below her.
Miyako watched as everyone but Naruto and a genin she knew to be Hyūga Neji left the arena to the waiting room where they can also watch and analysed the matches below them.
Soon the match between Neji and Naruto being, and Miyako watches as Naruto puts up one hell of a fight. She – like many in the crowd – doubted that Naruto would be able to put up much of a fight to the Hyūga protégé – let alone win the fight – so when he does win she stared in surprise.
Looks like Sakura's not the only one whose been training hard this last month, Miyako thought with a smile as she watched the blond-haired ninja run around with cheers of the crowd surrounding him.
If course, the high brough on from the fight was quickly diminished as restless anticipation filled the air for the next fight – which was supposed to be between Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Sand.
However, Sasuke appears to be a now show – either that or running late – and that match was postponed and the next match was to take place. But that too ended quickly as before the match even begun, one of the contestants forfeited.
Finally the third match brought entertainment through the brain of Nara Shikamaru and the boisterous attitude of Gaara's older sister Temari. The match itself was long and drawn out, as the Nara used his strategies to slowly bring Temari into the position he needed her in. Just as everything fell into place, three words rang out through the area.
"I give up."
An our roar ran through the crowd at those three, little words as Temari was announced the winner of the third match. No one understood what just happened, but Miyako chuckled as she realised that that was something to be expected from a Nara.
But now it was time for Sasuke's and Gaara's match, and there was still no sign of the Uchiha.
Miyako frowned, cursing Kakashi out. Of all days to be late.
Just as the proctor was about to announce Sasuke's loss, the Uchiha and Kakashi arrived in a swirl of leaves. Miyako grinned at the pose, and she wondered if that was what took most of their time. They spoke to proctor for a few minutes, before the proctor waved Gaara down from the stands.
A few minutes later, Gaara stood in front of Sasuke in the middle of the arena. The proctor began the match and everything went into a flurry of sand and quick movement. Sasuke attacked, Gaara defended. Gaara attacked, Sasuke dodged. Sasuke had obviously gotten faster as he managed to land a hit on Gaara. From that point on, Sasuke landed more and more hits on the red-haired shinobi, until Gaara was forced to hide himself away in a ball of sand.
Sasuke attacked the ball, only for it to do nothing, leaving Sasuke bleeding. Then, Sasuke weaved a few hand-signs, Miyako's eyes widening as she watched as a ball of lightning chakra surrounded his hand, making loud chirping sounds.
He taught him the Chidori? Miyako gasped in surprise as Sasuke charged towards Gaara, breaking through the sand ball, hitting Gaara in the centre. Everything stood still, no one moved, and everyone held their breath, watching, waiting for the next move.
"My blood!" Gaara shouted as an arm of some sort shot out through the hole, aiming for Sasuke. Sasuke barely dodged the attack before the sand ball crumbled, leaving a panting and injured Gaara in the middle of the arena.
A kunai shot passed Miyako., forcing her to turn and face the sand shinobi who was behind her. She quickly noticed that the other Jōnin guards were engaged in battle and pulled out her ninjato. She charged towards her opponent, slicing him down in one swipe before jumping upwards to dodge a wind jutsu headed her way.
Miyako faced her new opponent and knew, right then and right there, that Sunagakure and Otogakure were working together to attack Konohagakure. She attacked the new opponent, but the opponent dodged, laying a cut on Miyako's face with her kunai. Miyako and the opponent then got into a heated Taijutsu battle, going back and forth with punches, jabs, kicks, and chops. Occasionally pulling out kunai and shuriken and at one point, clashing ninjato against ninjato.
Soon, Miyako's opponent was dead and she shot off into the stand where civilians and shinobi who couldn't sense Genjutsu slept. She faced off with more enemy shinobi, noting for the first time the hole in the wall of the arena and figures of Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru rushing through, following a little pug.
"Miyako! The Hokage!" Takeo shouted as he dodged a water bullet from a sand shinobi.
Miyako pulled her ninjato out of the abdomen o f her opponent and looked up to see the Hokage trapped in a purple square, with who she guessed was Orochimaru. She didn't have time to worry about the Hokage – however – as three large snakes were summoned in the distance. "I'm going to deal with the snakes!"
"Ok, I'll stay here and protect the civilians," Takeo nodded and Miyako jumped into the air, summoning a large falcon the size of the three snakes attacking the village.
"What's going on, Miyako-sama?" the male falcon questioned as he shot towards the snakes.
"Konoha's under attack from Suna and Oto. We need to deal with those snakes, and quickly," Miyako stated and the falcon nodded, charging for the snakes. "Aim for the eyes. Try to blind them to make it easier for us to defend from them."
"Yes, Miyako-sama," the falcon replied and shot towards the snakes, talon at the ready. The falcons talons sliced through the eyes of the first snake, blinding it before shooting off to the next snake, doing the same thing. The third snake, however, was expecting the attack and lunged towards the bird.
Miyako jumped off, landing on the snakes head and shot towards the eye, digging her ninjato in it and pulling one eye ball out before jumping off the snake and landing on top of her falcon. The falcon shot back into the sky as Miyako pulled the eyeball off the end of her ninjato, throwing it on the ground.
The snake – now thrashing around in pain – was being overwhelmed by the chūnins and genins below it. Miyako jumped down onto the snake, using her chakra to get to the other eyeball and removing that one as well, leaving the snake bloody and completely blind. Miyako then jumped off the snake, landing on the roof of a destroy building where the genin and chunin fighting the snake were standing.
"Use your strongest attacks to kill that thing! We need it gone ASAP!" Miyako ordered as the group stared at the purple haired girl in awe as she removed the eyeball from her ninjato, throwing it onto the ground. "Well then? Let's attack!" Miyako snapped as she formed hand signs and sent a wind blade towards the thrashing snakes' neck.
The other shinobi followed her movement quickly, and soon the snakes head was severed from its body. "Quickly, we need to deal with the other two!" Miyako ordered and group shot of to the closest snake. They joined another group there and used the same tactic, slicing the head from the snake before moving onto the final snake, only to find that it was dealt with by Jiraiya.
As he finished off the snake, the Oto and Suna shinobi retreated and the barrier stopping the Hokage from escaping fell.